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# Who Maintains the Software a City Runs On?
- URL: https://columnist.themesbykyle.com/who-maintains-the-software-a-city-runs-on/
- Published: 2026-09-01T09:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-01T09:00:00.000Z
- Description: Public services increasingly depend on code that nobody in government owns. A small number of cities are changing that.
- Author: Desmond Achterberg
- Tags: Technology, #Import 2026-10-04 11:15

Behind every parking meter, library catalogue and bin-collection app is software. Much of it is bought, configured and then forgotten, until the supplier changes terms or disappears.

A handful of cities are treating that code as infrastructure. They require suppliers to document their systems, keep a copy of the source and name someone on the council who understands it. The work is dull and rarely announced.

Advocates say the aim is not to build everything in-house but to ensure that no essential service can be lost to a contract dispute. A city, they argue, should be able to keep its own lights on.

The costs are modest and mostly administrative. A requirement to escrow source code adds a few per cent to a contract; a named internal owner adds a salary line. Against that, officials point to a recent case in which a supplier’s bankruptcy left a neighbouring council unable to take bookings for six weeks.